New Delhi, Aug 08: On a petition seeking conferment of "Bharat Ratna" on leading freedom fighters - Madan Mohan Malaviya and Sir Syed Ahmed, the Supreme Court today asked the Union government as to whether it was following the guidelines laid down by it for selection of awardees for conferment of the highest civilian award. A bench comprising Chief Justice V N Khare, Justice S B Sinha and Justice Ashok Bhan requested Attorney General Soli J Sorabjee to find out and inform the court within four weeks whether the guidelines laid down by the apex court in the "Balaji case" on the conferment of "Bharat Ratna" on eminent personalities was being followed by the government or not.
The order was passed by the court on a special leave petition filed by one Rakesh Srivastava "Nyayik". Chief Justice Khare observed that the court had directed constitution of a high-powered committee for the selection of personalities for conferment of the award and said that the allegation was that the guidelines were not being followed. However, Sorabjee stated that the high-powered committee, which is broad-based to include people from many walks of life and added that it was not being run by bureaucrats alone.

Bureau Report